Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Beyonce is here in Brazil and everyone is talking about it – I must confess I’m not a fan, powerful voice and all. Even though I don’t like her songs, I found the music in “Ego” pretty interesting, but she had to go and ruin it with silly lyrics.

She should learn from Donna Hay: you get something great, like a lemon tart, and make it even better, by adding a crackly caramel crust. :)

Place the flour, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the water a little at a time and process until a dough forms. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 3mm thick. Butter a 20cm (8in) round fluted tart pan and line it with the pastry. Trim, prick the dough with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.
Line the pastry with baking paper, fill with baking weights or dried beans and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the weights/beans and the paper and bake for a further 8-10 minutes or until golden.
Reduce the oven to 140°C/285°F. Place the cream, eggs, sugar, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture into the tart shell and bake for 30 minutes or until just set. Allow to cool completely. Sprinkle the extra sugar over the lemon filling and use a kitchen torch to caramelize the sugar topping.

Well that is easy! I would prefer Donna Hay over Beyonce any day!! And those lemon tartlets just look gorgeous! I spotted them on tastespotting and just had to take a closer look. That burnt sugar crust sounds brilliant!

That looks perfect, hun! I must admit that I've tried 2 recipes from Donna Hay's magazine and both flopped in flavor, looks, and overall results. I'm kind of afraid to try again. Unless of course, you made it. I'll have to make this soon. I'm on a citrus kick lately.

This is the first recipe, which I saw on your blog and it struck me in the heart! I very much want to cook it! I have a little difficulty with the translation. I understand correctly: when tartlets are ready, sprinkle the top with a mixture of powdered sugar and lemon grind. Then the lighter (a match) set fire to the top, what would it melted and turned into a lemon caramel. It is right?

Hi, Niksya! You'll only sprinkle caster (superfine) sugar over the already baked and cooled tartlets, then you'll caramelize the sugar with a kitchen torch (using a lighter or a match won't work).Good luck!

I have prepared these marvellous tartlets! It is very tasty! At me, unfortunately, it has not turned out to make "burnt sugar crust", but it hasn't affected wonderful taste. Thanks for the recipe from me and from my husband!